Loving You Tonight
by Eiridian
Summary: It's not always the grand gestures that demonstrate how much one is loved. Sometimes it's the tiniest things that say the most.


Title song by Andrew Allen

* * *

 **Loving You Tonight**

Little old Mrs. Tadashi was on her tiptoes stretching up to the limit of her four foot stature trying to reach for the back of her mailbox as Shouta entered the apartment building. With a bag full of papers slung over a shoulder and a day weary slouch to his posture, Shouta made his way over to the wall of mailboxes as he stifled a jaw cracking yawn.

"Good afternoon, Tadashi-san." Shouta greeted as he reached into her mailbox to grab the envelopes evading her grasp.

"Oh, such a nice young man. Thank you, Aizawa-kun." Mrs. Tadashi beamed warmly up at him, the wrinkles on her face crinkling up. "You and Yamada-kun must be working hard, he seemed very tired when I saw him earlier. You must remember to take care of yourselves!" Wagging a mocking finger in Shouta's direction, Mrs. Tadashi closed and locked her mailbox before toddling off to her apartment.

"We will. Have a good evening, Tadashi-san." Shouta responded as he checked his own mailbox and sunk his face deeper into his scarf with a sigh. They really should be taking better care of themselves if he was already feeling this strung out on a Tuesday.

Taking the stairs up to the third floor at a slow pace, Shouta was having an inner debate trying to decide if he actually wanted to cook dinner or be lazy. His feet carried him to his door even as his mind was elsewhere and he dug around in his bag for a minute before finally fishing his keys out. He really did need more sleep.

Swinging the door open and closing it quietly behind him, Shouta wondered why the apartment was so quiet when his partner was supposedly home already. Normally he would have been greeted by music blaring, the television turned up, a one-sided conversation between his partner and their cat, or a combination of all three. A distressed meow floating up from around his ankles made him look down as Toshi wound herself between his feet with her tail twitching. Scooping the gray cat up with one hand Shouta deposited his keys and the mail on the entryway table before toeing his shoes off and entering the apartment.

His normal announcement of his return was held back as Shouta guessed what had probably caused Toshi's unusual behavior. Walking into the living room, dark eyes instantly found the figure laid out face down on the couch to confirm his suspicion. Shouta silently set his bag down beside the coffee table before heading for the bedroom. Toshi leaped from her master's arms onto the bed as he began to undress and search through the wardrobe drawers, sighing and grumbling quietly to himself as his evening just got a bit longer.

Shouta's feet made no sound as he walked back through the living room past his motionless partner, now dressed in a pair of loose sweatpants and an old t-shirt that he and Hizashi shared with Toshi close to his heels. Once in the kitchen Shouta filled the kettle before putting it on the stove. Rooting through the cabinet where their stock of teas were kept, Shouta nodded along with the meows that Toshi was serenading him with. He always had been convinced that she liked talking to her humans and it was only polite to acknowledge her.

Picking out a simple green tea and setting it on the counter, Shouta then turned his attention to Toshi's bowls as he refreshed her water and fed her dinner. Toshi rubbed her head against Shouta's leg in gratitude before digging into her food. Glad that his little girl was happy, Shouta leaned up against the counter as he kept an eye on the heating kettle. Mindful of the abnormal quiet in the apartment, the kettle was pulled from the stove right as it began to steam before it could start whistling.

Shouta poured himself a large mug of water before adding in a few pinches of tea leaves. Retrieving an ice pack from the freezer and grabbing his mug before heading back to the living room, Shouta decided that tonight was definitely a night to be lazy with dinner. After he set his steeping mug of tea on the coffee table, Shouta knelt by the couch and gently moved the mess of blond hair off of the back of Hizashi's neck before setting the ice pack on it. Checking to make sure that there was a glass of water and a pill bottle nearby, Shouta was a bit relieved that he didn't have to try and coax pills down his boyfriend's throat. Hizashi was a bit stubborn and more than a little snappy when he wasn't feeling good.

Settling himself on the floor by Hizashi's shoulder, Shouta pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up its internet browser to bring up the website for their favorite sushi place that was just down the street. As he placed an order with one hand his other hand wandered up to rub slowly up and down Hizashi's back, silently offering comfort when he knew that words would just piss the blond off.

Order placed, Shouta stowed his phone away before he turned his attention to the stack of partially graded homework assignments that had been abandoned on the coffee table. Figuring that grading had been the thing to finally trigger Hizashi's migraine, Shouta decided to be nice and uncapped the red pen sitting beside the stack of papers before pulling them closer.

Toshi had padded out from the kitchen licking her lips before trotting directly to where Shouta was sitting and draping herself in his lap as he made his way through the homework stack. The afternoon sun gave Shouta enough light for half of the stack before he had to stretch himself to reach the lamp on the couch's end table. He could have just stood up to turn it on, but that would have meant disturbing the snoring cat in his lap.

Shouta had just finished Hizashi's stack of papers and was pulling his own stack out of his bag when he felt a heavy weight lean into his side. Hizashi must have started to feel his pills working because he'd slid off the couch and was now huddled against Shouta's side. If Toshi hadn't been in Shouta's lap Hizashi would have taken that spot and forced the smaller man to somehow keep working with a giant baby in his lap.

Normally, Shouta would have just been thankful that Toshi had beaten Hizashi to his lap, but as he sat still and watched Hizashi tentatively nuzzling into him something was different. Bright green eyes were still closed against what Shouta knew to be a debilitatingly pounding pain and Hizashi's arms were loosely wrapped around the body he was leaned into. It almost seemed as if Hizashi was unsure if he was allowed to be a bit needy and seek out bodily comfort.

With as much care and gentleness that he could muster Shouta apologetically lifted Toshi from his lap and placed her on the couch behind him as she grumbled unhappily. Petting the upset cat until she reluctantly settled back down before turning back to the blond curled into his side, Shouta then started the careful task of moving Hizashi into the space that Toshi had been removed from.

Like a sleepy baby koala, Hizashi gladly let himself be guided into Shouta's lap and instantly latched his arms tighter before burying his face in the comfort of a warm shirt and letting out a small whine until Shouta began to gently pet his head. Gazing down at the blond melting into his chest and feeling his legs already start to go numb from the added weight, Shouta had to wonder what happened to him to make him voluntarily put himself in this situation and actually enjoy it. If time was rewound and someone asked a teenaged Shouta if he could see himself in this position years later, with Hizashi of all people, he would have immediately told that person that they were crazy.

Yet here he was, with the exact same blond that he used to not be able to stand even being in the same room with on a Tuesday night and rapidly losing all feeling in his legs due to said blond's dead weight on him.

"He's really not a bad person, I promise. He just has no clue what to do when he really likes someone." Hise had once told Shouta after seeking him out. It had been the day after the shouting session in the school courtyard that had left Hizashi looking like the saddest kicked puppy in the world and Shouta was still fuming a bit over being publicly humiliated. "I think you'd really like him if he stopped, uh, taking my advice." Hise had a guilty smile on his face as he looked down at his nervously shuffling feet before he turned light gray eyes back up to face Shouta straight on. "Please give him a chance, Aizawa. I think… I think he might really be in love with you."

Shouta never told Hizashi about that conversation with Hise, nor did he tell him about all the times that he visited Hise's grave after his death. Hizashi and Shouta visited Hise's grave every year on his birthday and his deathday but Shouta would also often go by himself whenever he needed to think, clear his head, or talk to Hise's gravestone when he just could not figure out what was going on in Hizashi's head.

The day after Hizashi had first kissed him Shouta had sat silently in front of Hise's grave for a long while as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say.

"Thank you." It was horribly inadequate when set against the number of emotions and words that he wanted to say, but it was the best that Shouta could come up with. "I promise to take good care of him."

The doorbell ringing made Hizashi start whining again as the chiming sound assaulted his ears and Shouta gave his head a few more pets before coaxing him off so he could wobbily get to his feet. Ignoring the shots of needle-like pain in his legs as circulation resumed, Shouta began walking to the front door but was momentarily distracted by Hizashi flopping his face into the couch with a pained groan before he grabbed Toshi to serve as his temporary pillow. Toshi let out an indignant yowl before her blue eyes shot towards Shouta for help but she was already in Hizashi's grasp and Shouta simply shrugged at her. Should have known better and moved faster.

Grabbing his wallet from the entryway table and answering the door, Shouta made quick work of paying the delivery guy and receiving his bags of food before going back to the living room in the hopes that Toshi hadn't scratched the hell out of Hizashi yet. Thankfully, Toshi seemed resigned to her fate as she lay limp in Hizashi's hold with a grumpy look on her face, shooting Shouta a betrayed glare as he set the food containers out on the coffee table.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Shouta kept his voice low as he rested a hand on Hizashi's head, absently pulling several strands of hair out of still closed eyes.

"Better." Hizashi croaked, his voice sounding strained and making him wince before he cleared his throat. "Food?"

"Yeah, I ordered food." Shouta smiled at his boyfriend's priorities. "Let me get you a drink, I'll be right back." Standing up and heading for the kitchen, he added over his shoulder, "Be nice to Toshi."

Retrieving the pitcher from the fridge that he always made sure was filled, Shouta then grabbed a couple of glasses from the cabinet before filling them with the iced herbal tea that he'd spent a good few months getting just right. Hizashi had initially been shocked at how serious Shouta was about reading and researching different tea blends before searching for the right leaves, but the result was undeniably helpful for days like this when his head made it impossible for him to function properly.

Returning once again to the living room Shouta had to sigh in exasperation as he walked in on Hizashi holding Toshi like a baby and feeding her a piece of salmon. "Hizashi, that's not what I meant by be nice." Shouta admonished as he set their drinks down and sat on the floor beside them.

"I feel bad for not feeding her, she kept meowing at me." Hizashi was pouting as he cuddled their placated cat close to his face.

"She's fine, I fed her when I got home. She's going to get fat if we keep this up." Shouta tapped Toshi's nose as she playfully nipped at him. "So how was-?" His question was swallowed by a pair of lips pressing against his for a moment as gray fur tickled at his chin.

"Welcome home, baby." Hizashi grinned as he pulled away, it was a little more subdued than his normal one but no less sincere in its happiness.

"I'm home." Shouta couldn't stop the returning smile as he pressed another quick kiss to Hizashi's lips before picking up his chopsticks and breaking them. "How was your day?"

"Ugh, crazy." Hizashi set Toshi down and settled himself with his hip against Shouta's as he grabbed his own chopsticks. "You would not believe what Kaminari-kun did today. I swear, that guy is weird. So get this, class had just started…"

As Hizashi went on about his day's events in between bites of sushi and Shouta attentively listened he knew that this was definitely not what he had pictured for himself. He hadn't seen himself settled happily down with a loud blond eating sushi at their coffee table with their cat sat between them and pawing their knees for food. He hadn't seen himself spending a Tuesday night grading two mountains of homework assignments for a bunch of crazy quirk wielding teenagers. He hadn't seen himself caring about another person as much as he did Hizashi, hadn't seen himself being so in love that he enjoyed being able to take care of someone when they weren't feeling well.

None of this was anywhere close to what he had envisioned years ago, but he wouldn't change a single thing about his life.


End file.
